Title 5, Subtitle E | Prohibited Conduct and Activities

Section 5.46 Prohibited Conduct and Activities Under Private Club Permit.In addition to the violation of or failure to comply with any of the Regulations under this Title and under Title 1 of these Regulations or with any alcoholic beverage control law of the State of Arkansas, a private club permit may be suspended or revoked for the violation or failure to comply with any Regulation under Title 3, Subtitle E in regard to Prohibited Conduct and Activities for retail permits.

Section 5.47 Advertising the Availability of Alcoholic Beverages to the Public by a Private Club in a Dry Area.Private clubs in any area of the state where the sale of alcoholic beverages is prohibited by law (“dry” area) are prohibited from using the advertising media, including any signs or trade names on the exterior of the club building, to promote the consumption and use of alcoholic beverages within the club. The use of terms such as “happy hour”, or any other term or brand name that generally identifies any brand or mixture of alcoholic beverages, is included in this prohibition.

No private club, located in either a “wet or dry” area of the state, may advertise or use any part of the advertising media to announce social functions of general interest to the membership, entertainment, or other similar activities within the confines of the club property, without preceding such advertisement or announcement with the words “Notice to Members” or “Attention Members” prominently displayed, and the name of the club or organization sponsoring such social activities. (Amended 8-21-13)

Section 5.48 Hours of Dispensing Alcoholic Beverages in Private Club; Class A Private Club Permit Defined; Class B Private Club Permit Defined; Imposition of More Restrictive Hours of Operation as a Sanction for a Violation; Prohibition Against Transfer of Class B Private Club Permit; and More Restrictive Hours of Operations by Local Governments.
Private club permits which are classified as Class A private club permits as well as all new private club permits issued by the Alcoholic Beverage Control Division shall be allowed to dispense alcoholic beverages and to allow the possession and consumption of alcoholic beverages on the permitted premises beginning at 7:00 a.m. of a day and ending by 2:00 a.m. of the following day. No new private club permit shall be issued, nor any existing Class A private club permit changed, to allow the dispensing, consumption or possession of alcoholic beverages on the permitted premises from 2:00 a.m. until 7:00 a.m. daily.

Those permitted establishments which have received a Class B certificate from the Alcoholic Beverage Control Division classifying them as a Class B private club shall be allowed to dispense alcoholic beverages and to allow the possession and consumption of alcoholic beverages on the permitted premises between the hours of 10:00 a.m. of a day and ending by 5:00 a.m. of the following day. No transfer of location application shall be allowed on any Class B private club permit to move the permit to another county.

The Alcoholic Beverage Control Board recognizes that cities or counties may desire to impose more restrictive hours of operation on private club permittees within their jurisdiction than is provided for by the Class A or Class B private club permits. Further, it has never been the intention of the Alcoholic Beverage Control Board, by the passage of prior versions of Section 5.48 of the Alcoholic Beverage Control Regulations, formerly numbered Section 5.47, to preempt the authority of cities or counties in this regard that was granted to them in the case of Tompos vs. City of Fayetteville, decided in 1983. Cities and counties are recognized to be empowered to provide, by ordinance, hours of operation that are more restrictive in nature than provided for by the Class A or Class B permit structure issued by this agency. However, in accordance with ACA § 3-4-407, any violation of more restrictive hours of operation provided for by city or county ordinance will not be considered a violation against the permit issued by this agency.

The Director, or the Board on appeal, in their discretion, is empowered to impose more restrictive hours of operation as a sanction for violation of any alcoholic beverage control law or Regulation. If any member, guest, employee, agent, or servant of the private club shall dispense, consume, or allow the possession of alcoholic beverages on the permitted premises during the prohibited hours, such action may result in a hearing against the permit and the levying of a fine and/or the suspension, revocation, or cancellation of the permit. (Amended 8-15-01)

Section 5.49 Presence of Minors in Private Club.No minors may be allowed on the permitted premises of a private club when alcoholic beverages are being served unless there is food service available from health department approved kitchen facilities on such premises where the food is prepared and being served. (Amended 8-20-03)

Section 5.50 Hotel or Large Event Facility Private Club Permit For “Dry” Areas Only.
In addition to the requirements for an application for a regular private club permit the applicant for a permit issued under this regulation must elect to apply as either a hotel or as a large event facility private club.

(a) If application is being made for a hotel private club permit as authorized by Act 1194 of 2011, the application for the hotel permit must include, in addition to information already required for a private club application, a description of the hotel facility, which shows at a minimum that the hotel meets the following additional requirements:

(1) The space leased must have at least eighty (80) lodging rooms and five thousand (5000) square feet of public meeting, banquet or restaurant space that is leased to the nonprofit corporation;

(2) Additional areas, other than the bar area, in which the private club hotel applicant desires the ability to serve alcoholic beverages to members and their guests must be shown on a floor plan. Such additional areas may include sleeping rooms, poolside bars, banquet facilities, restaurants, lobbies, exhibit halls, patios and outdoor gardens.

(3) If the hotel desires to offer room service, either by the use of in-room hospitality units as authorized by Alcoholic Beverage Control Regulation Section 5.51 or by room service, the floor plan submitted must clearly identify those rooms which are leased by the nonprofit corporation.

(b) The additional information or requirements for a large event facility under Act 1194 shall include, in addition to information already required for a private club application, the following:

(1) The large event facility application shall show that the large event facility has one or more places for food service on the premises with a seating capacity of not less than five hundred (500) people and must show that it employs a sufficient number and kind of employees to serve full and complete meals and food on the property capable of handling not less than five hundred (500) people. However, the food service requirement and employee requirement may be supplied either through the large event facility permittee or through one or more independent contractors.

(2) The large event facility will only be allowed to serve alcoholic beverages on the premises at one (1) or more places only on days complete meals and food are served at one (1) or more places on the premises.

(3) The large event facility applicant must show, by the application materials, that the facility has ten thousand (10,000) square feet of interior or exterior public meeting, banquet, exhibit hall or restaurant space;

(4) The applicant for the large event facility permit shall list, and show on its floor plan, all areas of the large event facility where alcoholic beverage service is being requested. This includes outdoor areas, exhibit halls, patios, lobbies, restaurants that may be within the large event facility and any other portion of the large event facility property where alcoholic beverage service is desired. Areas where alcoholic beverage service is desired must be owned or leased by the nonprofit corporation that is making application for the private club permit.

(5) Attachments to the application must show that the large event facility permit will be a facility that will house convention center activity, tourism activity, trade show and product display and related meeting activity, or any other similar large meeting or attendance activity as required by Act 1194 of 2011.

(c) The applicant for the hotel or the large event facility must show, on the floor plan, an entryway where members of the public may enter the property before they are offered the opportunity to become members of the nonprofit corporation. Both members of the public and members of the private club and bona fide guests of a member of the private club may freely move about the private club property, but only members and guests of a member of the nonprofit corporation may receive alcoholic beverage service from the private club. (Adopted 8-16-11)

Section 5.51 Hotel or Motel In-Room Hospitality Units for “Dry” Area Hotels or Motels under Act 1194 of 2011 A nonprofit corporation private club permittee which leases a space or spaces within a hotel or motel building, including sleeping room areas, which meets the requirements of Act 1194 of 2011, may dispense alcoholic beverages for on premises consumption only in sealed containers from an in-room hospitality unit located in any sleeping room of the permitted hotel or motel leased by the not for profit corporation permit holder and which is occupied by qualified persons. For purposes of this Regulation, qualified persons are defined as members or bona fide guests of a member of the private club, all of whom are twenty-one (21) years of age or older.

In-room hospitality unit [“unit”] is defined as a closed container, refrigerated or non-refrigerated, access to the interior of which is restricted by means of a locking device under the control of hotel management. Each such unit shall have permanently affixed thereto a sign that informs the qualified members or guests of the private club of the legal hours the unit may be accessed, such hours to correspond to state or local laws regarding the dispensing of alcoholic beverages. The unit herein described must meet such requirements as set forth by the Director and, further, must be approved by the Director in writing before dispensing commences from such unit:

An in-room hospitality unit may be stocked or inventoried only by private club employees who are twenty-one (21) years of age or older and only during the hours legally prescribed by law for the dispensing of alcoholic beverages at the private club. The following sizes and quantities of alcoholic beverages are authorized to be placed in and dispensed from an in-room hospitality unit:

(1) Wine and vinous beverage in 187 ml. containers with no more than a total of eight (8) containers per hospitality unit; and

(2) Malt beverages, including both beer and malt liquor, in 12 oz. or less containers with no more than a total of eight (8) containers per hospitality unit; however, no malt beverage container shall be less than 200 ml or 6.8 oz. in size; and

(3) Upon written approval by the Director, distilled spirits may be dispensed only in 100 ml. or less size containers. Any container size less than 100 ml. is specifically an exemption from the provisions of Section 2.19 of these Regulations, and may only be dispensed in such in-room hospitality units. No more than a total of fourteen (14) of such distilled spirits containers may be maintained in each hospitality unit. Based on the container size approval, the Director shall determine the appropriate number of containers allowed in the in-room hospitality unit. The private club permittee shall remain accountable under applicable law and regulations for dispensing from the in-room hospitality unit the same as if such were made from any other point from within the establishment; and

(4) The private club permittee at the hotel or motel, on property leased by the private club permittee, may also offer room service of alcoholic beverages during legal hours of the dispensing of alcoholic beverages as set by state or local law. Room service of alcoholic beverages may not be offered to any sleeping room if the room is solely occupied by persons under the age of twenty-one (21). (Adopted 8-16-2011)